


Unleashing Mr Schofield

by Ealasaid, writeyourownstory



Series: Hallmark Channel [12]
Category: 1917 (Movie 2019)
Genre: Blakefield, Dog Trainers, Gen, Inspired by Pride and Prejudice, M/M, Miscommunication, Teaching, inspired by Hallmark, some chatfic but mostly prose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27899107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealasaid/pseuds/Ealasaid, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeyourownstory/pseuds/writeyourownstory
Summary: (Or “Pride and Prejudice with Dogs”)Rewrite of the Hallmark movie "Unleashing Mr. Darcy."
Relationships: Joseph Blake/Lieutenant Richards, Lauri/Lieutenant Leslie, Tom Blake/William Schofield
Series: Hallmark Channel [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988683
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Unleashing Mr Schofield

**Author's Note:**

> ~originally chatfic'd October 11th!

**butler is boo:** Ladies and gentlemen! For your viewing pleasure today, on this Hallmark Rewrites of days, we have quite a stirring (and cliched) story to overhaul!  
  
Ha! 😂  
Ok, today’s hallmark movie is “Unleashing Mr. Darcy”. And, if you can’t guess where this is going—this is indeed a modern take of Pride and Prejudice. Based in Manhattan, a young (history!) teacher in a prestigious private school gives one of the Star football players an F on one of his assignments, leading to the kids father coming to her and trying to bribe her to change his sons grade. When she refuses, he goes to the headmaster and gets her fired. Lost and unsure of what to do, she decides to help her friend train her cocker spaniels for a dog competition coming up. All the while her sister is trying to help her get back on her feet. When the completions start, she meets a judge who is quite rude and off putting (Mr fucking Darcy obviously) and they kind of follow the same formula of P&P, except with cocker spaniels in the middle of Manhattan.  
Honestly, this one _pisses me off_ because the main girl is actually very likable while the mr Darcy character is just an asshole and many of the misunderstandings are because of his own mistakes. PLUS the fucking father of the student who got her fired and the _principal_ just going along with it because the dad donates a lot of money to the school. Just. Yeah it pisses me off every time I watch it.  
Let’s see if we can change it a bit 😈  
Ok. I’m thinking Blakefield (Tom/Will) because main girl’s personality just fits Tom’s imo. Will is the Mr Darcy character cause they are both of similar personalities, but I am not going to make Will a complete asshole like this douchebag 🙄  
Ok here we go! (Btw this prob won’t be as creative as Liz’s, but imma try my best 😘):

Tom Blake is a history teacher in a prestigious Manhattan private school. He is well-liked by his colleagues and absolutely loved by his students. He makes learning fun and he’s on the cusp of being offered tenure, which he’s been dreaming of for years.

Cue a major assignment that leaves one of his students (a star football player, popular boy, and all around little asshole that refuses to listen in class) with a failing grade. The kid is astonished, and even tried to convince Tom to change his grade so he can play in the next game, but Tom (being an honest person!) does not and thinks that’s the end of it. The next afternoon, the kid’s father shows up in Tom’s classroom, outwardly trying to bribe Tom with an outrageous amount of money (honestly I see MacKenzie as the dad 😂), to which Tom absolutely refuses.

MacKenzie then goes to the principal (Erinmore 🤷) and Tom is called into a meeting with the both of them. MacKenzie has told Erinmore that _Tom_ tried to _him_ to change his sons grades and, even though Tom loudly refutes these accusations and Erinmore obviously believes Tom’s version to be true, he still lets Tom go, saying the Mackenzie’s money to the school is just too important to ignore. Tom is outraged and threatens to go to the board but Erinmore makes it clear that no one would believe Tom over Erinmore of MacKenzie, who’s wife happens to be on the board, so Tom is screwed.

Tom, absolutely devastated, packs his things and immediately heads to his brother’s house. Joe is just as outraged as Tom and even threatens to go down to the school and kick Erinmore and Mackenzie’s asses, but Tom stops him. He’s absolutely miserable over what happened, but there was nothing he or Joe could do to change it. He just had to move on. But there was a big chance that MacKenzie has spread the word over the city about Tom’s “apparent” attempt to bribe him, so trying to get another teaching job would be hopeless.

((Honestly this is what the dad actually does in the movie, which pisses me off even more about it omg))

Another reason that Tom just _fits_ with this character is because MYRTLE!!

One day, Tom takes Myrtle to the dog park, meeting his friend Lauri for a hangout, who also brings her cocker spaniel to play with Myrtle. They discuss Tom’s unfortunate circumstances, Tom lamenting that he has no idea what to do with himself now since teaching is off the table. Lauri then has an idea—why doesn’t Tom come and train her new dog for a competition coming up? Tom used to train dogs before getting into teaching, having entered Myrtle in several competitions and winning each time. It’s been a while, but she thinks he can do it. She’ll be too busy planning her wedding to Leslie (YAS RAREPAIR HELL) to train the dog herself. She offers to pay him for it, and after some convincing Tom accepts.

Since Tom is no longer bringing in income (and Manhattan is expensive as hell to live in) he moves in with Joe and commutes to Lauri and Leslie’s place to train their cocker spaniel everyday.

Soon the competition comes up and Tom is excited to show off his skills as a dog trainer once more. Lauri is quite happy to show off Tom as well, introducing him to many wealthy dog owners, _including_ a man named Mr. Schofield, who actually lives in the house across the way from Lauri and who Lauri bought her dog from (the Schofield’s breed and raise award winning cocker spaniels). He is there with his friend Mr. Richards, who happily introduces himself to Tom and is, in Tom’s opinion, almost the complete opposite of Mr. Schofield in personality.

Mr. Schofield comes off as brooding and uptight when Tom first meets him and Tom is far from impressed with the man. But he remains polite and introduces himself and tries to have a pleasant conversation with the man and his friend, since Lauri seems to know them very well and has nothing but praise for them.

(In actuality, Will is just a quiet and shy person and is not very good at meeting new people, especially since he tends to socialize with rich families which causes its own problems. Ben usually does all the talking in these situations. Ben also tends to rib Will relentlessly for the rumors of “Mr. Schofield being quite the brooding fellow”. It’s because of Will’s “resting bitch face” as he puts it 😂)

Anyways! Tom gets through the interaction and is grateful when the announcement for the start of the competition comes (as you can probably guess, I know nothing of dog competitions so I’m wining it 🤷)

(Also, let me add that Joe is there for support and is there for the interaction with Mr. Schofield and Mr. Richards and lets just say, he finds himself quite smitten with Mr. Richards, who is very charming in his opinion 😏)

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((RAREPAIR HELLLLLL))  
((Omg this is fantaaaaaastic))

 **butler is boo:** ((I’m a sucker for P&P love, but this movie pisses me off 😂))

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((You are DOING IT JUSTICE!!!))

 **butler is boo:** (( _bows_ Thank you love!))  
CUE 1st MISUNDERSTANDING!

Tom leaves the conversation to get ready for the competition, Joe and Lauri coming with him to wish him luck. He realizes he accidentally left something (idk his entry number or something) behind and goes to grab it. He accidentally comes on Mr. Schofield and Mr. Richards conversing quietly with one another and they don’t seem to see Tom. As Tom grabs his thing, he overheard Mr. Schofield commenting to Richards that he didn’t see many promising competitors this year. Richards mentions Tom, to which Mr. Schofield comments that he’s not impressed by the boy, even with Lauri’s recommendation.

And this pisses Tom right the fuck off and he storms off (the two still it noticing him). Lauri and Joe are concerned by his change in attitude but he brushes them off and makes his way to the competition starting point. And he _kills_ it. Lauri’s dog (lets just call him Baumer cause idk 😂) is so well trained that they blow away the competition. It’s as he’s standing on the podium for their award that he realizes the judge giving them out is _Mr. Schofield_

And ooooh hoooo this is too good. He watches as Mr. Schofield approaches him and then the older man congratulates him (in a quiet, almost dull tone of voice) and pin a ribbon to Tom’s chest. (He also loops a ribbon around Baumer’s neck since he’s a good boy)

And Tom makes an off-handed comment: “Not so unimpressed now are you?” in like the most smartass voice he can manage

And—Mr. Schofield doesn’t say anything. He just stares at Tom with an unreadable expression until he finally turns away and joins the other judges again. Tom is sort of satisfied by the interaction, but he’s still pissed off and the first impression he has of Mr. Schofield is _not the best_ at all.

(In truth, Will’s comment to Ben was just born out of anxiety—from having to socialize with strangers and rich assholes—and Ben’s ribbing, who noticed that Will’s eyes may have lingered too long on the younger Blake. So he may have said some things he didn’t mean to throw Ben off, which obviously doesn’t work in the slightest.)

(But he realizes that, unfortunately, the younger Blake must have overheard that exchange and now he’s just plain embarrassed and ashamed)

ANYWAYS—after the competition is over, with plenty of new contacts in his phone from rich dog owners who would love for Tom to train their new dogs at the start of the next competition season (wow I know nothing about this shit) Lauri offers to still pay him for just nannying her dog and even gets him a dog nanny gig for the Schofield’s across the way (which Tom is _not happy about at all_ , but they’re offering him a _large_ amount of money to do it, so he can put his feelings aside for now)

(Also Tom’s mom and Joe are helping Lauri plan her wedding since Mrs. Blake owns a wedding planning business, so that lets Joe hang around a bit and for him to call on Ben, or Ben to call on him pretty regularly 😏)

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** _((Pleeeeeeease_ let them be caught necking backstage at one of the shows!))

 **butler is boo:** ((😏😏😏😏😏😏))  
The Schofield’s have a new litter of spaniels, so Tom’s in charge of watching them everyday, as well as taking the adults for walks and such. He meets Mr. Schofield’s sister, Ellie, who he immediately hits it off with and hangs out with whenever she’s at the house. He hasn’t seen much of Mr. Schofield (Ellie insists he’s doesn’t have to call the man that but he’s a stubborn bastard and does it out of spite) because he travels for his fancy pantsy job

But he does meet Mr. Schofield and Ellie’s aunt (who in his opinion is a literal ice queen and very snobbish towards him so he avoids her as best he can) and Richard’s sister, who according to Ellie has some sort of obsession with her brother (and Tom will not touch _that_ with a ten foot pole).

Richards also pops in every so often (he does travel with Mr. Schofield sometimes, but he tends to stay in the home office in Manhattan and take care of things there while Mr. Schofield travels instead). And during each of those visits he tends to pop over to Lauri’s place to visit with all of them (and if Tom notices that it’s always whenever Joe happens to be over, well—he’s not touching that with a ten foot pole either).

One day, Tom has the Schofield’s prized spaniel out for a walk and somehow, it escapes from the leash and just fucking takes off! Tom ends up having to search all over for it, getting caught in the rain in the process and nearly hysterical with worry because _oh god he lost the dog the Schofield’s were going to kill him or get him arrested and he needed to find it as soon as possible omg_

He manages to track the mutt down eventually, and gets it back to the Schofield’s (and he notices a car pulled up that he doesn’t recognize but doesn’t think much of because he’s wet and cold and just wants to drop the damn dog off so he can go to Lauri’s and get a hot bath)

Before he can get his spare key to get in the door opens and low and behold it’s Mr.-Fucking-Schofield. Excellent. Mr. Schofield eyes him up and down and ok, Tom knows he looks like shit and the dog is also soaked and can he please just come in and dry off? He realizes he says all this out loud, and promptly wishes he’d drop dead right then and there.

Mr. Schofield doesn’t say anything but he does hurriedly step aside to let Tom in, which he is very grateful for. Ellie immediately rushes to him, fawning over him and asking what happened. Tom doesn’t want to explain that he lost the dog, but he decides that he doesn’t want to lie about it so explains what happened to the siblings. He’s utterly ashamed and even offers to give up his position because of his irresponsibility. Before Ellie can even refute that, Mr. Schofield speaks up and tells Tom that, no, that wasn’t necessary. It was an accident and Tom obviously tried very hard to find the dog, even in a downpour, all by himself. It was very noble, he says and Tom—is _fucking shocked into silence_

(Ellie looks very smug at this. She’s had to listen to Ben go on and on about her brother’s apparent doe-eyed interaction with Tom during their first meeting and, while she didn’t really believe it at first—because her brother wasn’t one for being smitten over anyone—she can totally see it now.)

It here that Mr. Schofield quietly offers to get Tom a towel to dry himself off and when he leaves the room Tom just stares after him dumbfounded. He turns to Ellie and is like “So I’m not fired?” To which she replies “Oh, hell no.” (And she’s mentally going over her apology Ben in her head because she knows he’ll want one from her, the obnoxious bastard)

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((Fuck we need another photo of Jamie Parker or smth where he just looks smug))

 **butler is boo:** ((Omg yesssss 😂 Ben is just “smug bastard” incarnate!))

Mr. Schofield (“Schofield”, Tom decides) brings Tom a fluffy towel and one for the dog as well and as Tom dries off he watches Schofield scrub the dog down and his face is...a lot more expressive than it usually is. It’s surprising—he’s usually so blank and dull around people but he’s looking at the dog with something that remind Tom of him and Myrtle and wow. Ok. Tom’s blushing now. He quickly looks away but the damage is done. Bloody Schofield is actually sort of nice (and _attractive_ fuck)

It’s then that Richard’s sister walks in (why the fuck she’s there Tom doesn’t actually know—but he thinks she has some kind of sixth sense when it comes to Schofield and she’s usually lurking around Ellie, so maybe he shouldn’t be surprised) and she makes some offhanded comment about Tom looking like a drowned rat (and it’s very obvious that even though it was meant to be a joke, it was far too snide and condescending to be anything but rude as fuck)

Schofield is quick to shut her down though, to Tom’s surprise. Schofield tells her how Tom so _valiantly_ (Tom’s word not Schofield’s, but eh) searched for their dog in the rain all by himself and how _impressed_ he was about that (he shyly looks up at Tom when he says this and Tom notices those long eyelashes and he feels his stomach flutter at the words and at the look and _oh fucking fuck what?_ )

Richard’s sister leaves in a huff after that and Schofield offers to make them some tea to warm Tom up, but Tom decides to excuse himself. He’s very confused and doesn’t want to be rude and Ellie is looking at him with this smug look that he doesn’t understand and _he needs to leave now_.

Schofield sees him to the door (and he doesn’t fucking say anything else and Tom is just as quiet because he doesn’t know what to say and it’s very awkward all of a sudden), but all Schofield says as he walks out is “See you tomorrow then?” And Tom is terrible _more_ confused until he remembers that, yes, he still has a job, and awkwardly replies in some kind of affirmative before booking it over to Lauri’s.

Okay so like at this point in the movie they sort of flirt on and off with one another since Mr Darcy is home and the main girl is over every day. So yeah, that sort of what Tom and Will do I’d imagine. Will is still an awkward turtle and not good at conversing with people, but he slowly gets more open with Tom as they bond over a new litter that one of the Schofield’s dogs have. Plus Ellie and Ben sort of push them together any chance they get? (And this gives Ben a chance to run off and _canoodle_ with Joe since he doesn’t have to babysit Will all the time now 😏)

Will’s aunt and Richard’s sister (I am too brain dead to come up with names for then so they are nameless bitches for now) are _very_ unhappy with that development. Will’s aunt had it in mind that he would marry Richard’s sister (marry into another wealthy family for connections and what not) and has connived with Richard’s sister for years to make this happen (either Will is thick or he’s just very stubborn about not proposing to her but she’s patient)

So obviously they’re not happy with this ragged, uncultured, _male_ dog nanny coming in and just stealing all of Will’s time.

Will’s aunt confronts Tom about this (while Will and Ellie are out of the house) and Tom is astonished at the woman’s vitriol towards him. He tells her that he has no intentions of _stealing_ Will away from anyone (Altho he is shocked to hear from her that Will is apparently going to ask Richard’s sister to marry him, even tho Tom has not seen anything resembling love or adoration from a Will towards Richard’s sister but 🤷)

(And yeah, he knows how rich people work and, yeah, he’s very put out by this information because he thought he was getting very close with Will but maybe...he misread the situation? It makes his heart hurt either way)

((Okay pause cause we’re leaving granny’s now and I’m driving 😂))

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((Omg babe this is SO MUCH FUN))  
((I am LIVING FOR THIS RIGHT NOW))

 **butler is boo:** ((OK GOOD 😂 I feel like I’m just rambling at this point!))

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((NOOOOOO, this is _wonderful))_  
((I'm LOVING this detail!!))

 **butler is boo:** ((I _may_ have seen this movie too much? 😂 it plays so much on hallmark and is probably one of the only likable ones—BUT IT STILL PISSES ME OFF))

ANYWAYS—so the Schofield’s decide to throw this fancy ball (as rich people do obviously) to smooze with clients and whatnot. Ben invites Joe (😏) and Will invites Tom—which Tom is surprised about because yeah, Joe makes sense (he’s totally noticed everything going on with those two, they are not subtle—plus joe is a little more cultured and put together than Tom is so, yeah), but he agrees to come (Joe points out while he’s freaking out about this to him later that it’s another good opportunity to get clients for those dog shows or whatever [ _insert dog competition stuff here_ ])

Lauri gets Tom _ready_ for this ball like, she goes all out and picks out a very fetching suit and does his hair and just makes him “look like a twinky snack”—her words—and he’s completely nervous about going and joe isn’t really helping cause he’s just excited to see Ben, which he _keeps mentioning okay we get it shut up Joe!_

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** _twinky snack_

 **butler is boo:** And Tom shows up the the Schofield house and like everyone in upper Manhattan (is that the rich part? Idk) is there and he feels so out of place and like he doesn’t belong. But he’s soon hugged within an inch of his life by Ellie, who swoops in like a guardian angel and saves his ass from a stilted conversation with the mayors son or some shit. And Will is right behind her and just. _Damn_. _**Damn**_ the man looks good.

(And he has this little smile on his face that Tom’s been noticing lately at only comes out around him and yep. There go the conga line of butterflies in his stomach doing the tango)

With the Schofield siblings by his side (who the fuck knows where Joe went off too—50 bucks says he’s in a closet somewhere with Ben) the ball is not as daunting and even tho Tom should be paying attention to the conversations happening around him, he can’t quite keep his eyes off of Will and he notices that Will can’t keep his eyes off him either (and he is still sooooo confused because—isn’t Will supposed to be marrying Richard’s sister? He hasn’t had the balls to bring it up with the Schofield siblings yet but it makes total sense to him that that is how things should transpire, even though it kills him a little inside but whatever, he can deal)

Things only get more confusing when Will offers him a dance (Jesus this man is going to be the _death_ of Tom) and they share this moment out on the dance floor, swaying with one another as they look into each other’s eyes and—Tom is just completely gone on this man isn’t he? He can admit that. It hurts, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((In my mind I am _absolutely_ imagining the closet scene))

 **butler is boo:** ((Omg _same **👏**_ 😂))  
((Joe just immediately ditching Tom and having rendezvous with Ben in the 2nd floor hall closet omfg))

Ok, so they dance and honestly—I imagine the scene in P&P (the movie with Kiara Knightly) when they dance and the music just crescendos and everyone else disappears and it’s just them two dancing together 🤤

The song ends and before Will can ask Tom for another dance (he looks completely frazzled and dopey and Tom is sort of proud of that but he’s pretty sure he looks even stupider so he just ignores it) when Tom see someone on the dance floor that just has his heart stopping. It’s MacKenzie, dancing with his wife, and when the man notices Tom he immediately starts laying in to him, saying awful things like how he’s not surprised that Tom now works with dogs since he’s on their level isn’t he? (Idk in terrible at insults) and starts telling Will how he better watch out for Tom because Tom tried to pick his pockets and get money out of him (continuing that lie in front of everyone). “Don’t want to fall in with gold diggers, do we Schofield?"

And Tom is just _livid_ and _devastated_ and so embarrassed and he tries to defend himself, calling MacKenzie out as a liar, but wills aunt shows up and completely refutes that—saying that MacKenzie is of a better class of men and why would he lie about something like this? Which just makes Tom feel like he’s been thrown to the wolves. Before he can storm out though, he feels a hand on his arm and looks to Will, who isn’t looking at him in anger or disgust, but rather in sympathy. Will then turns to his aunt and wow, he’s definitely angry now. He dismisses her completely and completely _lays_ in to MacKenzie, saying that he knows his type and he also knows that MacKenzie spends quite a lot of money on the school and his wife is on the school board isn’t she? And he also heard a rumor that his son nearly couldn’t play in the next season because of grades but miraculously gets to play because “things were resolved” weren’t they? Will says very loudly how he wouldn’t be surprised that MacKenzie played the system and how easy it would be to get a lowly teacher fired, right?

((Wow none of that made sense but 🤷😂))

And Tom is just _floored._ Like. What? (Will’s aunt is in the same boat if the dumb expression on her face is anything to go by)

MacKenzie ends up storming out and Will, ignoring both his aunt and Richard’s sister, pulls Tom away from all the attention and asks if he’s alright. And honestly? No. No he isn’t. Seeing MacKenzie again has brought up so many bad feelings and memories and he’s just lost at the moment. He does say though that he knows Will’s aunt was the one to invite MacKenzie because, who else could it be? He explains to a confused Will how his aunt cornered him the other day and basically threatened him not to get involved with Will

(It’s completely embarrassing to admit this all to Will, but he’s so knocked off his game he can’t stop from rambling)

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** 🥺🥺🥺  
_babe_

 **butler is boo:** And Tom says that he just needs to leave he can’t be here to be harassed like this and—Will grabs him as he walks away and says “No. _None_ of that is true. I’m not marrying [insert Richards sisters name here].” He pulls Tom to him and gives him a very serious look, which has Tom pulling up short. “They don’t decide who I end up with. I do. So let’s show them that.” (So fucking corny)

And Will just grabs Tom and kisses him _in front of everyone_

(And _fuck_ , Tom is literally melting right now. He’s a puddle on the floor. Will’s lips feel so good on his. He can’t think straight. He’s just _gone_ )

((I forgot how to spell puddle for a second and I panicked and thought I’d lost my mind 😂))

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((Sister name -- Eleanor, maybe? Wisteria? Liliana?))  
((Helena?))

 **butler is boo:** ((Something that screams “bitch”—at least for this story! 😂 she’s not a bitch any other time!))

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((Lmao!!))  
((Doesn't matter for now))

 **butler is boo:** Anyways!! The kiss ends and Tom is like hanging onto Will for dear life, and Will seems to be more put together than him because he then announces to the whole party watching them that “Any rumor of me proposing to (Richards sister) is false and, if what just happened is anything to go by, won’t be happening ever”

Which of course this sets a fire under his aunt and leaves Richards's sister so fucking embarrassed and yeah, this totally leaves Tom feeling vindicated (enough though he’s getting himself together again and can’t stop the blush of embarrassment on his face)

Will ends up asking his aunt and (I’m just gonna call her felicity cause that’s the bitch’s name in the movie) to leave because they’re causing a scene and Ellie and Joe swoops in to check on Tom (and Tom is studiously _ignoring_ the bruises on Joe’s neck and the smug look in Ben’s eyes behind his brother just. _Nope_.)

Tom is still feeling out of his depth though and Joe must see something on his face because he takes Tom to one of the bathrooms so that he can wash his face with cold water and calm down. Tom is just grateful to get away from the crowd for a minute

He can feel his blood pressure slowly going down but now he has a fucking headache and joe offers to get him some aspirin and leave the bathroom to go ask Ben where the meds were.

(This is when Joe goes to find Ben and stumbles on Ben and Will talking with one another. He hides around the corner cause he can hear they are talking about Tom, and “That kiss, _wow_ , that was really something, Will”.

And Will says “that was just to shut my aunt and felicity up. I was tired of them meddling with my life.” Ben obviously doesn’t believe him if his tone of voice is anything to go by and continues to probe Will and Will gets exasperated and eventually says “Why would I like Tom? He’s hyper and talks all the time and butts into people’s business” (and he says some other stuff to make Ben stop with the ribbing because he’s embarrassed and doesn’t like to admit these personal things to Ben, even though Ben is his best friend, because he’s just not good with talking about these things with anyone besides his sister) and Joe has heard enough by this point.)

((Ok I admit I’m following along with the movie a lot more than I intended 😅 but whatever, I’ve changed plenty to make it less identical 🤷))

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((I mean we followed some of those other movies pretty closely too!))

 **butler is boo:** Joe bursts into the bathroom, startling Tom, saying that they should leave. When Tom tries to ask why Joe just blurt about that Will is a filthy liar and explains what he just overheard

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((also OH NO NOT MORE MISCOMMUNICATION))  
(())

 **butler is boo:** ((😏 P&P is all about the miscommunications dear))  
((That’s why I hate/love it so much))

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** ((I knoooooooooooooooooooow))  
((ugh so valid))

 **butler is boo:** And Tom....Tom just feels hollow. He had thought....but again, he’s misunderstood. Will was just using him, that’s all. He should feel angry about it, but he just feels tired and he just wants to leave.

Joe and Tom storm through the party and make their way out the front door. Will and Ben notice and go after then, asking what is wrong. Joe, in all his protective older brother glory, just lays in to the two of them, calling them out on their shit and what he overheard. Tom just watches blankly as Will first looks confused, then shocked, then absolutely wrecked.

Will tries to explain himself, tries to say that he didn’t mean any of it and that he does care for Tom and it _did mean something_ (and he curses himself because dammit, if he was just better at admitting to others what he was actually feeling instead of misdirecting them so he could save face Tom wouldn’t look so dead right now—it’s all on him) but Joe has none of it and just grabs Tom and calls a cab. They’re going back to his flat, not Lauri’s. Will tries to call out to Tom but Joe closes the cab door before he can so much as get a word out and they speed off.

Tom sends his resignation with Lauri the next day.

((Gah the _feels_ ))

Tom wallows around Joe’s apartment for the next week. He ignores any phone calls that are for him (even if they’re from Lauri because she’s too involved with the Schofield’s and he just can’t right now). Mrs. Blake stops by often to comfort him and Joe tries his best, too. By the end of the week the dead feeling inside him has morphed into anger and a need to just get away. (Totally forgot to add this but obviously Tom would have put in for teaching positions in other places besides Manhattan and let’s just say he may have gotten a response back from one of them 🤷) So he decides that he’s going to go for that interview, even if he has to move away. But before he can even decide what to do next he gets a call from his former principal, Erinmore.

Who requests that he meets him in his office on campus. When Tom gets there, Erinmore offers him his job back, saying that they made a mistake in not trusting Tom during the incident. When Tom questions why things have suddenly changed, Erinmore admits (off the record) that they had some information given to them by a reputable source that MacKenzie was not as honest about the situation as he made himself out to be. Which lead to the removal of Mrs. MacKenzie from the board and MacKenzie withdrawing from funding the school any longer. So Erinmore offers Tom his job back, with a 20% raise and the tenure he was promised. And. Well. That sounds pretty great.

But. Tom declines and very angrily let’s Erinmore know why he declines—if this is how they were running the school, then he wanted no part of it.  
The board’s priorities were fucked and what was to stop them from attempting something like this again from another rich boy’s daddy going “he said she said?”  
So, no thank you. He’s completely fine, thanks.

And as he storms out he feels so invigorated and vindicated. And he has a pretty good idea who that “reputable source” is that spoke out for him. Which leads him to the Schofield residence.

And yeah, he’s still completely pissed and hurt and confused, but he needs to understand. One minute Will is his friend and openingly flirting with him and giving him hope for something more—then the next he’s completely dismissing Tom. All these mixed signals end _now_. People don’t just go around doing what Will did for Tom. There has to be something to it and, if there isn’t, then Tom will wash his hands of the Schofields for good.

So he knocks and _of course_ it’s Will who answers (giving him no time to prepare of course) and the man looks completely dreadful. Bags under his eyes and pale and Tom squashes any sympathy his pounding heart wants to feel in that moment.

And when Will sees it Tom he gets this hopeful look on his face, a relief at finally seeing Tom and it throws Tom for a second. But for only a second because he immediately pushes past Will into the house and just starts angrily pacing.

Will watches him like he’s lost his mind of course but give Tom a minute! He’s thinking about what to say dammit!

So Tom takes a breath and is like “So. You talked to Erinmore.”

Which is not what he wanted to start with but wtf he’s so lost at the moment

And Will doesn’t look surprised at all that Tom figured out it was him. He just nods and says “It wasn’t fair what they did to you. I only wish I had done it sooner.”

Tom nods, his lips thinned and brow furrowed. “Okay. Thanks for that. But I told him to shove it.”

And Will looks at him, startled. “What? But I thought you wanted to teach again?”

“Not for those cunts I don’t,” Tom bites out. He takes another breath, tries to calm himself. “Why would you even do that? I thought you didn’t feel anything for me? I thought you were just using me to get your family off your back?”

And Will’s face just falls then, leaving Tom thrown. Will goes into an in-depth explanation about why _none of that is true_ (we obviously know because I provided those lovely inner bits with Will) and apologizes as sincerely as he can to Tom.

(Tom may or may not be as pissed off as he was when he first arrived. And his heart may or may not be beating out of his chest right now)

Will then comes up to Tom, looking him dead in the eye with a look of pure adoration that leaves Tom wanting to just cry. (Fuck this man, just—fuck him). He lays a hand on Tom’s cheek, caressing his skin delicately and says how much he does care for Tom, how this past year getting to know him has left Will feeling things he’s never felt with anyone else. He doesn’t want to lose Tom. He wants Tom to come back to him, he misses him terribly.

(He may or may not drop the L word—depending on how long they’ve actually built their relationship, I wasn’t specific)

And Tom doesn’t stop Will when he leans in to kiss him. And he sure as hell doesn’t hold back himself from devouring the other man with his lips.

(And then they start dating and Tom actually gets a pretty big client base with training dogs for rich people and makes a good living and Joe and Ben announce their engagement and Lauri and Leslie expect their first child together and Ellie remains as awesome as she always was and Aunt Schofield can go to hell)

THE END 😬

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏** **👏**  
🎊🥳🥂😍😘💗  
FANTASTIC, DARLING!!!!  
and incredible!!!! so much detail 💗😍💗😍💗😍💗😍💗😍

 **butler is boo:** But also so fucking corny 😂  
THANK YOU LOVE!

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** 🌽🌽🌽/5 corns for cornyness!  
it's there 😏  
but it's also not! 💗

 **butler is boo:** 🙌🙌🙌

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** I love it 😍

 **butler is boo:** Awwwww good!!! 🥰🥰🥰  
There’s a sequel to the fucking thing 😂

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** o.o

 **butler is boo:** But it didn’t come on and that one _pisses me off even more_

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** 😂  
does it involve more miscommunication?

 **butler is boo:** _OFC_  
The main girl and Darcy get engaged and like, the aunt cause issues, then the sister does too (Darcy’s sister) and then Darcy starts sort of ignoring the main girl because he’s trying to set up like an amazing honeymoon trip for the two of them so he has to work over time and stuff which leads to her eventually—through many other miscommunications—calling off the wedding 🙄

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** 🙂🙃🙂  
let's not do that  
instead let's have Benjamin noticing Will is up to his idiocy again and keeps Tom in the loop after making him swear to be surprised

 **butler is boo:** 👆👆👆👆

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** or, like, Tom remembering that last time was a cock-up when he assumed things so he just effing _talks_ to Will

 **butler is boo:** I think Will and Tom would be smarter and learn to _communicate_ pretty quickly

 **Lt. Richards is bae:** 👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

**Author's Note:**

> 😭😭😭 BABE YOU ARE SUCH A GODDESS 😭😭😭 ~E
> 
> 😂 Well, when you’ve seen the same Hallmark movie over and over enough to know the plot by heart...this is what happens 😏 (and no YOU are a goddess, hush?) ~W


End file.
